39SHARPIE WARS.
"You do realise you might get ink poisoning from the excessive amount you write on your arm right?"
I looked up at the boy seated next to me, my sharpie posed above my arm, ready to write down the day's homework. Not having caught on to what he was suggesting, I arched an eyebrow up in confusion.
He nodded his head at my sharpie. "Ink poisoning, Emma. It's not good for you."
I rolled my eyes at him. "Nate, sharpie's are non-toxic." I quickly scribbled down the maths homework before the teacher could rub it off. "And besides, I'd have to ingest at least 1 oz of ink fluid for any significant effects to occur."
He gave me a doubtful look, those grey eyes of his narrowing when I grabbed a hold of his arm to draw a small smiley on his hand. "I wouldn't brush off the warning just like that if I were you."
I waved my hand nonchalantly at him. "Relax Nate, I've done my research on this. Did you really think you were the first to tell me off about writing on my arm too much?"
He shrugged as he shouldered his bag. "Hey, if more than one person is actually warning you about your high potential in getting ink poisoning, I'd have thought you'd be smart enough to listen." I threw my sharpie's cap at him but he dodged it and made his way to the door laughing. "Just sayin' you know."
"Yeah, and I hate you." He raised an eyebrow. "Just sayin' you know."
His grey eyes twinkled as the sides of his lips lifted. "Sure, Emma."
'I'm gay!'
"Hey!" Nate exclaimed, grabbing my hand and wrestling the sharpie out of my grip. He examined his arm thoughtfully before raising his grey eyes to meet mine. I smiled innocently and held out my hand.
"Can I have my sharpie back?"
"No."
I pouted slightly and watched him shove the sharpie into his pocket. "But that's stealing!" I ducked my head down as our math teacher turned away from the board to shoot us a dirty look. "It's my sharpie!" I hissed under my breath.
Nate shrugged and continued copying the notes off the board as if nothing had happened. He didn't even bother to look at me when he spoke. "And this is my arm," he indicated to the spot I'd just drew on, "if you really want to get technical about it."
I pouted again, not that he'd notice from all the attention he seemed to be paying me. "Yeah, but it's not like I took your arm and put it in my pocket, refusing to return it to you."
"You don't have pockets on your dress Emma." He glanced at me quickly before diverting his attention back to the maths book spread out before him. "And when did I say I wouldn't return your sharpie?"
The corner of his mouth twitched upwards when I harrumphed and sunk lower into my chair. "Fine, be that way then. I have five more sharpies in my locker if you really want to play this game." I turned my attention back to the teacher, intending to ignore the frustrating thief next to me.
"Game?" I could hear the amusement in his voice, but ignoring him was so much easier than giving him the satisfaction of...well I don't know what but it was just easier.
"Yes Nate," I told him as I flipped to the answers in the back of the maths book. "Did you really think I would just let you steal my sharpie like that?" He raised an eyebrow inquisitively. "Just watch out," I told him, "You never know when I'll strike."
I had to give him credit for being able to keep a straight face. Okay, so he was definitely having trouble and I could tell by the amusement in his grey eyes that he found my words highly entertaining. Heck, even I couldn't help laughing at my own words. I snickered as Nate's lips lifted upwards, showing off his dimple. He shook his head slightly and looked away from me.
I was distracted the rest of the lesson by the confusing new formulas I had just learnt and barely registered the coolness spreading across the skin of my arm made what could only be by a sharpie, until it was too late.
The big black penis glared sadistically up at me as Nate bolted out from his seat. I narrowed my eyes at him, but he only waved my sharpie at me, a smirk gracing over his face.
"Think fast!" I was too stunned to move or block the pen that flew towards me. The pain registered after a second and I could only stare dumbfounded at the sharpie lying in my lap before turning my shocked expression towards Nate. He shot me a wink as he bolted for the door.
"This is war Reynolds!"
Nate stopped at the door and lifted up his arm. He pointed to the two words I'd hastily written there at the start of the lesson.
"Bring in on, Emma."
'I have a dominatrix fetish.'
"Um, Emma?"
I peered up at Nate innocently. Of course, I knew what he was going to ask. Obviously, I was the only person that would have written those five words across the front of his maths folder in thick block letters with my trusty sharpie. But playing stupid was much more interesting.
"What's this?" He waved his folder in front of me and I pinched myself to refrain from laughing.
"Looks like someone has written on your folder with a texta." I shrugged. "Happens to the best of us."
Nate narrowed his eyes and ran a hand through his hair. He eyed me suspiciously but didn't say anything. We both turned our attention back to our maths teacher who was currently rattling off the solution to a question she'd made us do the day before. I had pretty much forgotten about the folder incident when Nate decided to ignore it. Stupidly thinking that Nate actually believed it hadn't been me, I excused myself from class to go to the toilet a few minutes before the bell.
Upon returning, I knew I'd made a huge mistake in doubting Nate.
Across the front of my own maths book was scrawled; 'Boys, call me for a great time! ;)' Under it was my number, enhanced by the amount of times Nate had gone over the digits with my sharpie.
"Karma's a bitch eh?" He smirked as he shouldered his bag, the dimple grinning at me as his eyes shone mischievously. I shot him a glare and stood up, pulling out my extra sharpie while I was at it.
"You're the worst boy I've ever met, Nathaniel Reynolds!"
Nate laughed and took a step towards me. "Now don't be like that Emma. You wanted a war, so I'm giving you one that'll leave a lasting impression. No pun intended." I smiled at him – but at the same time, I was uncapping my extra sharpie from behind my back. Laughing inwardly at my awesome plan, I readied myself to strike; this time aiming for his left cheek.
Nate's quick movements caught me off guard. I was only aware of his intentions after he pulled away from my face with the sharpie, a stupid grin plastered across his handsome features. The dimple reappeared, and I took my opportunity to strike while his attention was directed at the sharpie mark he'd left on my own cheek.
I grabbed onto the front of Nate's shirt and pulled him toward me. My sharpie lid dropped to the floor as I hastily leaned forward to draw on his cheek. Nate was too surprised to pull away and only touched his cheek in wonderment when I took a step back to survey my handiwork.
'I use goatweed.'
I smirked at my artwork. Granted, it was rushed and a little smudged, but it was still legible.
"Touché, Emma, touché."
I touched my cheek lightly, staring into the mirror reflection as I surveyed the mark Nate had left on my own cheek. I tried to brush off the little flutter in my stomach as I traced the black mark on my cheek. If I wasn't mistake – and from the amount of people that have commented and confirmed the little shape hastily drawn on my cheek – then Nate had really left me a love heart. I was in a little bubble of ecstatic bewilderment.
I traced the shape again, smiling at my reflection. I wondered offhandedly whether I should have left him something else on his cheek. My message was rather embarrassing, after all.
"I'll have you know," Nate said as he dropped into the seat beside me during fourth period math. My stomach fluttered as his grey eyes bore into mine. "That it was a nightmare having to explain to my brother about the sweet little message you left on my cheek yesterday."
He laughed at my shocked reaction. "What did he say?"
Nate rolled his eyes as he began to unpack his bag for the lesson. "Oh, the usual. 'Hey Nate, I knew you were a pussy!', 'Man up kid, no woman's ever going to love a sissy like you!'. Oh, and my personal favourite – 'Nate, you fucking goatweed, go get me a beer from the kitchen!'." He dropped his head into his hands and groaned. "This is all your fault you know." He lifted his eyes and shot me a mock glare.
"Don't play with fire, you will get burned."
He grinned. "Oh really now?"
I nodded my head and avoided his eyes. Swallowing the lump in my throat, I held out my hand to him. "Can can I please have my sharpie back? You've held it hostage all night."
Nate ran a hand through his hair. "I'm demanding ransom for the sharpie."
I gasped and glared at him sharply. "What do you mean you're demanding ransom?! What could you possibly want for a $3.50 sharpie?"
He tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Let me draw on your cheek."
"Um, what?"
"Let me draw on your cheek. I'm not demanding that much." He grinned. There goes the dimple again.
"Um, hell no! Do you know how hard it was to get that heart off my cheek yesterday? What if you draw something embarrassing this time? I'm not stupid enough to put myself through that."
Nate sighed. "Well, seeing as all the embarrassment you put me through yesterday, I do have a right to be entitled revenge. However, I'm not that type of person." I shot him a look and he lifted his hands up defensively. "Hey, just trust me on this alright?"
"Nate, you do realise I could just easily go and buy another sharpie, right? I really don't need the one you have."
He smiled lightly and my heart rate increased. "Emma, I've been waiting a long time to gather enough courage to do this, so please don't break my spirit now."
"What?"
He took my sharpie out of his pocket and reached out to gently tilt my cheek towards him. "Nate, what are you doing?!"
He shooshed me just as our math teacher noticed our inattention at the back of the class. "Nate and Emma, what do you think you're doing?"
Nate turned his head slightly to address our teacher. "Miss, please. I just need to do one thing real quick."
"You're disrupting my class, Mr. Reynolds."
"Please."
I didn't know if it was the pleading tone he used or something else, but our math teacher sighed at last in reluctant defeat. "Fine, Nate, make it quick."
He turned his attention back to me again, and gently cupped my cheek in his warm hands. He pulled the top off the sharpie with his teeth and tilted my cheek up toward him. With a concentrated look on his face, Nate got to work.
"Nate, what the hell are you writing on my cheek? A freaking essay?" I demanded after a minute, pulling back from him. I glanced briefly around the class, whose attention was centred entirely on the two of us.
He smiled softly at me. "Just let me finish, Emma." Reluctantly, I let him tilt my cheek towards him again. I watched Nate bite his lips gently as he concentrated entirely on writing across my cheek with sharpie. I don't really know why I let him, but the warmth emanating from his hands were making my stomach flutter in excitement. It was a nice feeling, and even with the entire class watching us closely, I wish he'd never pull back. However, he did exactly that.
"Done." I lifted a hand to touch my cheek but he pulled it away quickly. "Hey, don't ruin it."
"What, why would I want to ruin your little artwork?" I teased.
He smiled, showing off his dimples. I had the urge to pull him towards me and crash our lips together. Feeling my cheeks heat up, I tried to turn away from Nate before he could realise.
"Are you blushing, Emma?" the girl sitting in front of us pointed out. "That is so adorable!" Her eyes darted over the words Nate left on my cheek and her eyes widened in amusement. "Why Nate, didn't know you had it in you."
"What?" I demanded. "What did he write?"
The girl shot Nate a quick glance before replying me. "Maybe you should go to the bathroom and find out."
Our math teacher approached our desk with lifted eyebrows. "Yes, Emma, I really do think you should go take a look for yourself."
I shot a confused look at Nate, but he was looking down at his hands. I was quickly ushered out of the classroom by my classmates and ran the rest of the way to the bathroom. I was thankful that it was empty, especially when I took my first look at my cheek in the mirror. My little gasp of amazement was loud enough to echo around the empty room and I had to clutch onto the sink for support.
'Emma,
Be mine?
S2 Nate.'
I realised why Nate took so long to write four simple words and a love heart. He had taken the time to write everything backwards, so that when I looked into the mirror, the reflection would read it the right way. I grinned at one of the 'e's' which he had made a mistake on and pinched myself to see if all this was really happening. It was.
The run back to the classroom was exhilarating and my heart rate increased rapidly as I neared the room. A cheer rose loudly as I burst into the class, searching for only one person. People parted for Nate and I as we approached each other. He blushed lightly as I cupped his cheek in my hand, pulling him down quickly to bring our lips together. Hoots and howls sounded around the classroom, and I could lightly make out a voice telling everyone to be quiet.
Nate pulled away suddenly and grabbed my hand, leading me towards the door. "Sorry Miss," he called over his shoulder, "But we'll be right back."
"Nathaniel Reynolds!" I heard our math teacher call out, "Now you've really disrupted my entire lesson!" I could hear the amusement in her voice but that was soon pushed out of my mind as Nate pulled me towards him again and brought our lips together. I wrapped my arms around his neck, holding on for support. I was pretty close to collapsing onto the floor and very nearly did when he bit gently on my lower lip and entered my mouth to play gently with my tongue.
His hot lips trailed down the side of my face and over the cheek where he had drawn on with sharpie. He kissed it twice, and pulled me tighter towards him.
"You know, you might have given me ink poisoning from exposing my cheek to so much sharpie," I teased as he grazed my jaw gently. I sighed into his arms and ran my hands through his hair.
"Emma, sharpies are non-toxic," he stated matter of factly before trailing kisses down my neck. I gasped suddenly as he began sucking gently near my collarbone, eliciting a whole range of senses to go into overdrive.
"Nathaniel Reynolds!" I gasped between breaths, "What are you doing?"
Nate looked up at me with his brilliant grey eyes and smirked, revealing the winking dimple that I promptly kissed. "Why Emma, I'm making you mine, of course."
The End.
A/N: This is actually based really loosely on some true events, and it totally did not turn out the way I envisioned, but I still quite like the outcome. ;D Hope you enjoyed this, another procrastination story of mine, and leave me some feedback if you want!
-J. xx